LONDON—In his first experience taking a death ride known as the Olympic 10,000 metres, Canada’s Cam Levins hung in tough and long with the world’s best distance runners.

“It got to the last couple of miles, and it … just kept getting faster and faster and faster,” said the 23-year-old Levins, of Black Creek, B.C. “And I was kind of like, ‘Okay, when am I just going to blow up and be thrown off the back of this?’ But it never happened, so I was really happy … I just didn’t have the strength to kick. It’ll come.”

Indeed, in what was hailed by Athletics Canada officials as one of the great performances in the albeit not-so-stellar recent history of Canadian distance running, Levins stayed with the lead pack of 12 runners for 24 laps of the 25-lap race. And though the world’s elite left him in the dust in the final 400 metres — Britain’s Mo Farah sprinting to gold in 27 minutes, 30.42 seconds over silver-medallist Galen Rupp of the U.S. and Ethiopia’s Tariku Bekele, who won bronze — Levins kept pushing to finish 11th.

Levins’ time of 27:40.68 wasn’t the impressive thing. Championship races are exercises in tactics. Saturday’s pace surged violently at times. Levins likened the changes in speed to taxing “mini sprints.” But he handled them well.

“I was in awe,” said Wynn Gmitroski, the longtime Athletics Canada coach. “I didn’t really know if I would ever see a Canadian run like this, especially in the 10K, in my lifetime of coaching. The kid’s got talent.”

So does Mohammed Ahmed of St. Catharines, Ont., who finished 18th in 28:13.91.

“We haven’t seen two (Canadian) guys at this level in decades,” said Gmitroski. “And they (previous Canadian talent) was nowhere near as quick as these guys.”

While Levins said he had hoped to be able to show off a finishing kick that helped him dominate the U.S. college ranks this year, when he won both the 10,000m and the 5,000m at the NCAA championships, he had little left in the tank on the bell lap.

“They ran the legs right off of me. I wasn’t able to kick at all. I’m really happy, though. It shows I have the strength to run with these guys. I can’t sprint with them yet, but that’ll come.’’

Levins, who has drawn attention for his high-mileage training philosophy that sees him run as many as 30 miles a day in three separate sessions, is also entered in the 5,000m, which begins Wednesday.

“I would really love a top 10 performance,” Levins said of the 5,000.

“I’ve dreamed of this my whole life. I’ve looked up to these guys for years, just waiting for the day I could run with them and experience that. It’s happened. Hopefully in the future I can run with them the whole time.”

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